The Adafruit Feather RP2040 SCORPIO is a powerful microcontroller board designed specifically for driving NeoPixels (WS2812) and other PIO-based projects. Built around the RP2040 from Raspberry Pi, it utilizes the new PIO (Peripheral Input/Output) peripheral to handle large quantities of NeoPixels efficiently without burdening the processor. The PIO state machine generates perfect waveforms and supports up to 8 outputs simultaneously via DMA, freeing up the processor to handle other tasks like reading buttons, playing music, or running CircuitPython.
The SCORPIO features a clever pinout with all standard Feather pins, including I2C, SPI, and UART lines. It provides 8 consecutive GPIO pins (GPIO16-GPIO23) for PIO-based output, ideal for NeoPixel projects. For glitch-free NeoPixel driving, the board includes a 3V-to-5V level shifter to ensure 5V output logic, but this can be adjusted for 3V signals via a jumper on the bottom. You can also switch the direction of the level shifter, making the pins inputs for use as a logic analyzer.
With 264KB of RAM, the SCORPIO is capable of buffering a large number of NeoPixels, even allowing for dithering to achieve finer brightness control and better color accuracy at low brightness. The board supports both Arduino and CircuitPython with NeoPXL8 driver code, so you can dive right into creating beautiful LED-based projects.
Key Features:
Technical Details: